Who said what in the cartoon row

The row over the cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad has sparked protests and comment worldwide. The following are some key quotes on the controversy:

The cartoons triggered global protests

“The idea seemed good. The intention was to provoke a debate about the extent to which we self-censor in our coverage of Muslim issues.
Jan Lund, foreign editor with Jylland-Posten, explaining why the Danish national daily decided to run a series of cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad on 30 September last year

“Now it has become more than a case about the drawings:
Now there are forces that wants a confrontation between our
cultures … It is in no one’s interest, neither them or us”
Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller tells Danish radio that “enough is enough” as protests against the cartoons become increasingly violent

The Danish government cannot apologise on behalf of a Danish newspaper. It does not work like that … and we have explained that to the Arab countries. Independent media are not edited by the government.”
Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, gives his own take on the editorial decision.

“What we say to Muslims is that we must not at this time stoop to the level of those who want to resort to insulting the prophet of Islam as a terrorist. We should engage in peaceful, responsible protest.”
Haji Mustafa, a representative of Muslim group, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, conveys his dismay at Muslims threatening Westerners with violence during a demonstration in London.

“There is freedom of speech, we all respect that, but there is not any obligation to insult or to be gratuitously inflammatory… I believe that the republication of these cartoons has been unnecessary, it has been insensitive, it has been disrespectful and it has been wrong.”
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw

“Whatever your views on these cartoons, we have a tradition of freedom of speech in this country which has to be protected. Certainly there can be no tolerance of incitement to murder.”
The shadow UK home secretary David Davis condemns the offensive placards carried by demonstrators in London.

“We know that moral double standards sometimes guide certain reactions in the Arab world. If we start to stop using our right to the freedom of expression within our legal boundaries then we start to develop an appeasement mentality.”
Roger Koppel, editor of German daily Die Welt criticises Jylland-Posten’s decision to apologise for the cartoons.

“This is an insult to the Prophet Muhammad. Furthermore, we have asked our national companies to boycott all Danish goods.”
Jamal Ibrahim, a Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman echoes the sentiments of many countries across the Gulf whose supermarkets stopped selling Danish goods.

“Overreactions surpassing the limits of peaceful democratic acts … are dangerous and detrimental to the efforts to defend the legitimate case of the Muslim world.”
Statement from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

“This has nothing to do with Islam at all … Destabilising security and vandalism give a wrong image of Islam. Prophet Mohammad cannot be defended this way.”
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

“We call on all fighters in the resistance to reactive their military activities and the first target of the upcoming attacks should be Danish troops.”
Militant leaflet handed out in Ramadi, Iraq.

“Silence from the Muslim World has encouraged other European newspapers to reprint the blasphemous cartoons.”
Mohammad Hanif, a Taliban spokesman.

“Two values are in conflict here. One is respect for religion and the other is freedom of speech.”
Peter Vandermeersch, Editor-in-Chief of Belgian newspaper De Standaard, which reproduced the pictures.